I got the surgery scheduled for Monday, April 6. I will spend one or two nights at the surgical center then will be home for a while. Doing searches on the Internet, it appears to vary widely on when I’ll be allowed to drive, go back to work, etc. My doctor encourages return to normal activities as soon as the patient feels like it. I suspect that I will be working from home before I feel safe enough to drive on Dallas streets with one hand. Fortunately I have an employer that will accommodate those arrangements.

I have to say I am not happy about this development. I think my mind just isn’t ready to accept that I’m losing another joint to this horrible disease. However, it is the right answer. The damage to the joint is significant and it’s not going to get better. The best we can do is address the issue now before it gets worse and makes the surgery more difficult.

I had very little pain with the hip and the literature from my doctor indicates he is pretty aggressive about pain management. My previous shoulder surgery hurt like the dickens, but there were some issues with the pain delivery system, so hopefully this will be better. In addition to pain pumps, they provide a patient-managed pain dispenser. Morphine makes me extremely sick, so we’ll see. When I had my previous surgery, I woke up in the recovery room sick to my stomach. That’s one of the reasons they don’t let you eat or drink anything. When I had my hip done, the anesthesiologist gave me some extra drugs to help with the nausea and I didn’t have any problems at all.

I have to get in for my physical and I have to reschedule my upcoming appointment with my rheumatologist, but those are minor issues. I’m actually more worried about how I’m going to blow-dry my hair for six weeks. (Ha!)

That’s all I know for now. I’ll update the blog as I move forward and I am hopeful that the surgical center has WiFi available so I can update the blog while I’m there. With all those drugs in my system if I don’t write it down when it happens, I don’t always remember things.